Tag Archives: CU!2018

Following feedback about the original version we have rebuilt it so that it works more like a mini Facebook – but just for Cast and Crew from CU!

If you came as Crew this year or if you came as Cast AND gave us an email address during the sign up process you should have received an invite.

If you haven’t received it yet – or if you didn’t give us your email address then please send us a message here and let us know the email address where you would like the invite sent to AND the email address of the person who signed you up to CU! this year – so we can confirm who you are !

We are once again hurtling through the week at CU!2018 !! Well .. oddly it feels like the end is coming far too soon and that we have been here for ages!

It has been a great few days – again the weather hasn’t dampened our spirits. In fact not having to spend chunks of the day drinking massive amounts of water and putting on more suncream has probably been a good thing!!

Day 6 is our last “normal” day here on site – tomorrow (Saturday) will be our last full day but it’s also the day we do 2the final performance tech and dress rehearsals. We also have our final theme night that afternoon / evening.

Day 5 saw our second theme night- with the rather awesome “Fairy Tails” night – it was great fun with some fantastic costumes! It also had everyone running around the (surprisingly large) site to find clues – great way to work up an appetite! I am guessing Lancaster Royals Grammar School for Boys … hasn’t quite seen anything like it !!

Our fantastic evening meetings have continued with a great range of creative ways to explore the topics we have been looking at. They are also working well as a jumping off point for the study groups the following day.

We have also done our “Praise Rave” – this year during the day as we have residential houses only 6m from our venue – rather than the 600m+ that we had at our old site !!

The One Shot Music Video has made its debut on the new site – as always it is always astonishing to see what the cast and crew come up with in less than an hour – and to see it all put together and then filmed in a single continuous take is always amazing to see!

The end of CU!2018is already rapidly approaching – However we are already looking forward to CU!2019 !!! Over the week the Cast have been submitting ideas for next years theme nights – today they voted on them ….. All shall be revealed soon ….

Point for prayer!

1 – Energy and Wisdom – its safe to say that there are some very tired Cast and Crew around ! It’s is great that the tiredness is because of people having a good time – but prayers for everyone who is struggling with a lack of energy – specifically that they will be given wisdom to judge and plan their actions and how they respond to things.

2 – Listening – with the business of the last few days please pray that the Cast and Crew make time to listen to what God is trying to say to them in our time here. Additionally what other Cast and Crew members are trying to tell them as well !!

3 – The Final Performance – this was always designed to be a collection of what we have been up to in the week. It also gives the Cast chance to experience a basic production process with Tech and Dress rehearsals. We are a Creative Arts holiday rather than a Performing arts holiday – specifically because not everyone wants to be on the stage. Please pray that the process of the final performance is a positive one and that the final show really captures what we have been up to this week !

I’m not quite sure how we are already at Day 3 here at CU!2018 !! We are already at the point of not actually knowing what day of the week it is just what day number of CU! it is!

Thank you for your continued prayer support – we are having a great time and settling well into the site.

Day 2 brought our 1st full day on site and Day 3 our 1st Theme Night!

The workshops are going really well – and somehow we have already managed to cram in over 12 different extra workshops ON TOP of the two main workshop choices that the Cast picked before the holiday!

Our 1st theme night was “what I want to be when a grow up” – some really great costumes this year!! Some of the Crew were able to wear their work clothes as they are now (allegedly) grown up and doing what they wanted to when they were younger!

We did a great set of games followed by a themed quiz! With a really lovely meal provided by our own catering team crammed in the middle.

We are having a great week so far! The weather may not be as scorching hot as the last few weeks but with the REALLY steep hill the site is located on that probably isn’t a bad thing!!

It’s been great to explore our topic of “All Change” together. We have had a great mix evening meetings so far. Our fabulous Crew have really been using their Creative gifts to look at our topic in different ways. Our tech team have also been working really hard to transform the large space we have onsite into a really special space to spend time in.

Points For Prayer

1- Energy – Our Crew are working incredibly hard – prayers for energy to get done the things God wants us to prioritise would be great and wisdom to listen when we need to take a break and rest!

2 – Friendships – The community at CU! is incredibly special. This is now our 20th CU! and over the years the friendships and community that has built up has been an incredible support to so many Cast and Crew. Please pray for those new and old friendships developing this week.

3 – Kitchen and Cleaning – Switching from a catered/cleaned site to a DIY site was always going to bring new challenges! We are changing things as the week goes on to make sure the holiday runs as well as it can – If you could pray for wisdom when making decisions and for clarity when explaining what has change to the Cast and Crew

Despite some practical issues (like the lack of internet – hence the delay to this post!!) we are having a great time

Our Cast battled with trains and roads to get here and have all unpacks and settled in! We are quickly learning our way around the site and working out the best way to run CU! here.

The weather has been … a bit different to the last few weeks ! But thankfully the site isn’t quite as large as our old site so we are not getting too wet if its raining when we are moving around.

Our kitchen team are doing a heroic job of cooking together and for us for the 1st time! Especially as they are in a kitchen non of us have used before … !

We had great fun in the welcome game playing loads of games together in our groups. We came up with a team chant – match the Crew to each of their interesting facts and of course moving smarties around with just straws!

Yesterday in the evening meeting we looked at Abram and Sarai’s journey. Alex and Anya took us on a journey around parts of the site – building alters at the various locations of the story. We then arrived at the theatre for our final destination and final alter build. Jenny and the band led us in a great time of sung worship and we spent some time thinking about about our place in the story and where we wanted to go this week. Accompanied by the beautiful “Doing A New Thing” by the Bright Expression (Ex Crew members at CU!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky3TP3eb8nE

Points for Prayer

1 – Weather – the rain is “refreshing” but being damp all week does put a dampener on things!

2 – Settling In – Prayer for the Cast and Crew as we settle into the holiday, the site and with relationships with each other.

3 – The Site – We have some final outstanding issues we could do with resolving to make sure we can have a great time this week.

4 – The Kitchen – We have a great team but its obviously an exhausting and stressful job – so prayers for energy, rest and wisdom would be great.

As I write this day Day 0 here at CU!18 is abut to come to an end – this is the day the Crew arrive and start getting the site and ourselves ready to run another fantastic year!

When we picked ” All Change” as the theme for this year I have to be honest the weather wasn’t one of the things we were anticipating to change – especially quite so dramatically!

We have had blazing sunshine, grey clouds, lights rain and full on thunderstorms leaving enough hail behind that even a few hours later it looks like parts of the site have small piles of snow! That’s just today !!

But it has been a great day spending time together as a team learning more about the practical details of ho this years CU! will work – but also spending time with God to make sure we are ready to run the holiday He wants us to run.

Points for prayer

1 – Weather. The rain is refreshing … but the practical side of the holiday especially when the Cast arrive gets a bit more complicated !

2 – The Site. Obviously being on a new site this year brings new challenges – prayer for swift answers to our outstanding questions would be great!

3 – Travel. Sunday sees the Cast making their way from all over the country to drop the Cast off. Prayers for safe and stress free travel would be great !

We are now less than a week away from the start of CU!2018 – it’s very exciting!!

Once again our awesome Crew are putting the final preparations in place for what is looking like being another awesome year at CU!

It is “All Change” this year as we are moving “up north” to Lancaster – but it’s still the same awesome holiday – just with a different view!

We will be updating our website during the week – so if you do want to keep up to date with how things are going or to support us through prayer do watch this space! These updates will also automatically get published to our Facebook and Twitter feeds.

We are really forward to CU!2018!! We can’t wait to meet the CU!2018 Cast and see what God has in store for us this year.

Brief point for prayer

Final Preparations – A LOT of detailed planning goes into CU! – Please pray for the Crew completing those tasks this week to make sure all of the right details are in place

Coordination – We work with lots of other people and organisations to make sure CU! happens – prayer for all of those relationships would be great. As time runs short and people with “normal” jobs go on holiday things can get a bit stressful!

Travel – For some of the Cast and Crew getting to and from Lancaster presents more of a challenge than previous years in Rendcomb! Protection and safety for those traveling to CU! would be great. Extra prayers for those traveling by train as the rail network seems to be slightly suffering at the moment !!

Hearts and Minds – Most importantly we want people to meet with God during the week. Please pray for the Cast and Crew heading to CU! that God will prepare our hearts and minds to be ready and open for whatever he needs us to hear and do during the week.